Abstract [en]

This paper reports on the design, fabrication and thermomechanical study of ceramic LC resonators for wireless pressure reading, verified at room temperature, at 500 °C and at 1000 °C for pressures up to 2.5 bar. Five different devices were fabricated of high-temperature co-fired ceramics (HTCC) and characterized. Alumina green tape sheets were screen printed with platinum paste, micromachined, laminated and fired. The resulting samples were 21 x 19 mm2 with different thicknesses. An embedded communicator part was integrated with either a passive backing part or with a pressure-sensing element, including an 80 μm thick and 6 mm diameter diaphragm. The study includes measuring thermally and mechanically induced resonance frequency shifts, and thermally induced deformations. For the pressure sensor device, contributions from changes in the relative permittivity and from expanding air, trapped in the cavity, were extracted. The devices exhibited thermomechanical robustness during heating, regardless of the thickness of the backing. The pressure sensitivity decreased with increasing temperature from 15 050 ppm/bar at room temperature to 2400 ppm/bar at 1000°C, due to the decreasing pressure difference between the external pressure and the air pressure inside the cavity.

Abstract [en]

When operating microsystems in harsh environments, many conventionally used techniques are limiting. Further, depending on if the demands arise from the environment or the conditions inside the system, different approaches have to be used. This thesis deals with the challenges encountered when microsystems are used at high pressures and high temperatures.

For microsystems operating at harsh conditions, many parameters will vary extensively with both temperature and pressure, and to maintain control, these variations needs to be well understood. Covered within this thesis is the to-date strongest membrane micropump, demonstrated to pump against back-pressures up to 13 MPa, and a gas-tight high pressure valve that manages pressures beyond 20 MPa.

With the ability to manipulate fluids at high pressures in microsystems at elevated temperatures, opportunities are created to use green solvents like supercritical fluids like CO2. To allow for a reliable and predictable operation in systems using more than one fluid, the behavior of the multiphase flow needs to be controlled. Therefore, the effect of varying temperature and pressure, as well as flow conditions were investigated for multiphase flows of CO2 and H2O around and above the critical point of CO2. Also, the influence of channel surface and geometry was investigated.

Although supercritical CO2 only requires moderate temperatures, other supercritical fluids or reactions require much higher temperatures. The study how increasing temperature affects a system, a high-temperature testbed inside an electron microscope was created.

One of the challenges for high-temperature systems is the interface towards room temperature components. To circumvent the need of wires, high temperature wireless systems were studied together with a wireless pressure sensing system operating at temperatures up to 1,000 °C for pressures up to 0.3 MPa.

To further extend the capabilities of microsystems and combine high temperatures and high pressures, it is necessary to consider that the requirements differs fundamentally. Therefore, combining high pressures and high temperatures in microsystems results in great challenges, which requires trade-offs and compromises. Here, steel and HTCC based microsystems may prove interesting alternatives for future high performance microsystems.

Abstract [en]

Aiming at applications in space exploration as well as for monitoring natural hazards, this thesis focuses on understanding and overcoming the challenges of extending the applicability of microsystems to temperatures above 600°C as well as chemically harsh environments. Alumina and zirconia high-temperature co-fired ceramics (HTCC) with platinum as the conductor material, have in this thesis, been used to manufacture a wide range of high-temperature tolerant miniaturized sensors and actuators, including pressure and flow sensors, valves, a combustor, and liquid monopropellant microthrusters.

Interfacing for high temperatures is challenging. One solution is to transfer the signal wirelessly. Here, therefor, wireless pressure sensors have been developed and characterized up to 1000°C.

It is usually unwanted that material properties change with temperature, but by using smart designs, such changes can be exploited to sense physical properties as in the gas flow sensor presented, where the temperature-dependent electrical conductivity of zirconia has been utilized. In the same manner, various properties of platinum have been exploited to make temperature sensors, heaters and catalytic beds. By in-situ electroplating metals after sintering, even more capabilities were added, since many metals that do not tolerate HTCC processing can be added for additional functionality. An electroplated copper layer that was oxidized and used as an oxygen source in an alumina combustor intended for burning organic samples prior to sample analysis in a lab on a chip system, and a silver layer used as a catalyst in order to decompose hydrogen peroxide in a microthuster for spacecraft attitude control, are both examples that have been explored here.

Ceramics are both high-temperature tolerant and chemically resistant, making them suitable for both thrusters and combustors. The corresponding applications benefit from miniaturization of them in terms of decreased mass, power consumption, integration potential, and reduced sample waste.

Integrating many functions using as few materials as possible, is important when it comes to microsystems for harsh environments. This thesis has shown the high potential of co-fired ceramics in manufacturing microsystems for aggressive environments. However, interfacing is yet a major challenge to overcome.

Abstract [en]

In aerospace applications, but also in manufacturing, mining, energy industry and natural hazards, high temperature, corrosion, erosion and radiation, challenge the performance and being of hardware.

In this work, high-temperature co-fired ceramic (HTCC) alumina and platinum have been used for a range of devices intended for aerospace applications at up to 1000°C.

The thermomechanics of a pressure sensor was investigated, and the interfacing was attained by wireless powering and reading. However, read range was limited and sensitivity decreased with temperature. Silver, electroplated after sintering, was found to remedy this until it eventually alloyed with platinum.

Copper was electroplated and oxidized for oxygen storage in a microcombustor, intended for sample preparation for optogalvanic spectroscopy (OGS) to indicate extraterrestrial life. Despite delamination, caused by residual stresses, the device operated successfully.

Conversely, pre-firing metallization by integration of platinum wires was studied. Freely suspended, and despite heat-induced shape irregularities, these were found advantageous over screen printed elements for gas heating, and temperature and pressure sensing. By fusing off the wires, spherical tips, allowing for impedance monitoring of microplasma sources in, e.g., OGS, were formed.

Microplasma sources can also be used for gas heating. This, together with screen printed and suspended resistive heaters, was evaluated in a microthruster, showing that plasma heating is the most effective, implying fuel consumption reduction in satellite propulsion.

In conclusion, HTCC alumina microdevices are thermally stable and could benefit several aerospace applications, especially with the complementary metallization schemes devised here.

Future developments are expected to include both processing and design, all with the intention of sensing, actuating and surviving in high-temperature environments.